News

Endeavor Jordan Releases A Research Of Findings on The Journey of Female Entrepreneurs in Jordan

18-Nov-2018

Amman, November 18, 2018 – In a round-table discussion convening top entrepreneurs
and leading business women and men in Jordan, Endeavor held an event on Sunday,
November 18th, on the social, economic and structural challenges, obstacles and
barriers female entrepreneurs face in starting and scaling their businesses in
Jordan, and the solutions that can be offered by the entrepreneurial ecosystem
to ensure women having equal opportunities and benefits. The event, which was
held in partnership with ‘World of Letters’ – Women as Partners in Progress, and
sponsored by Bank al Etihad, came as Endeavor Jordan’s contribution to the
Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 12 - 18).

The discussion points raised by the round-table came as
a result of the qualitative research conducted to identify the main social and
economic challenges females face during their entrepreneurial journey.

The event commenced with a welcome note by Reem
Goussous, Endeavor Jordan’s Managing Director, who noted: “The number of female
entrepreneurs comprises only 22% of Endeavor Jordan’s current portfolio. We
clearly see the challenges these women face, through our regular interaction
with them, and these challenges are distinctly different than those faced by
men. We need to collaboratively identify ways to reshape this experience for
women”.

Mayyada Abu-Jaber, CEO of World of Letters, who
co-facilitated the stated, "there are two types of obstacles that are
specific to women, an extrinsic such as home environment restrictions, and
intrinsic such as self-doubt and lack of confidence".

The welcome note was
followed by a presentation by socioeconomic researcher, Shereen Abbady, who
described the current entrepreneurial framework conditions in Jordan, social
and individual attributes towards entrepreneurship, and psychological and
demographic motivation. She highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship as a
timely tool for Jordan's development given its slow economic growth and high
levels of unemployment – mainly among women.

According to the Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, entrepreneurship has declined in recent
years in Jordan, and has not been specifically promising for women. According
to the report, Jordan’s Total Entrepreneurship Activity (TEA) reached 8.2% in
2016, dropping from 18.3% in 2004. The report also shows that one out of every
five individuals (males and females) who are starting a new or running an
existing business, has discontinued a business in the last year, and for women,
this is instigated by: market conditions and lack of profitability (61%),
family obligations (16%), and access to finance (13%).

The research confirmed
that in Jordan, the processes and policies of business incubators, accelerators
and support programs are unbiased. Women and men are basically treated equally
throughout the selection and incubation process. However, only one-fourth of
incubated entrepreneurs are females.

Through the in depth
interviews and the validation workshop, research identified five main
challenges that hold back the woman’s entrepreneurial journey. These include: Investor
Reluctance to invest in women-led start-ups, which leave women
entrepreneurs challenged to meet investor expectations regarding their ability
to balance their roles as wives, mothers, and business women at the same time. Access
to Finance, which is primarily hindered by the lack of knowledge, access to
wealth, and collateral that women experience. Stereotyping and conforming,
as research shows that social values do not encourage entrepreneurship as a
career choice in general and especially among women. Confidence, as
self-doubt, fear of failure and low levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy
were evident in the findings as feelings that women need to cope with when
starting a business. Furthermore, Legal Liability is a challengemore considerable for women given social norms that make it harder on them
to establish fair commercial transactions. Thus, suggesting that women in
Jordan face several indirect challenges that reduce their chances of receiving
equal benefits from opportunities within Jordan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Endeavor aims to support
high-impact entrepreneurs in building thriving scale-ups that create quality
jobs, generate high wages, and impact sustainable national economic growth,
where a prominent part of this is done by conducting research papers tackling
sensitive and timely issues pertaining to challenges faced by entrepreneurs in
Jordan. Hence, this research effort aims to propose measures to help reshape
the entrepreneurial journey of females in Jordan, to enable more women to
become successful entrepreneurs.